First-term U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho of Florida is already among the House's most conservative members, but his Republican primary challenger claims to be even more so -- but with a quixotic, longtime hobby as a costumed, role-playing "gamer."

Challenger Jake Rush (in his day job, a lawyer) portrays supernatural characters as a prominent member of the national Mind's Eye Society and Florida's Covenant of the Poisoned Absinthe, including a vampire named "Chazz Darling," who, according to a Yahoo message board, once left an explicit, body-parts-bloodying threat to a role-player with whom he had been feuding.

(The Florida political report SaintPetersBlog broke the story -- and was quickly criticized, less by Rush's political defenders than by the indignant "cosplay" community, feeling mocked.) [SaintPetersBlog, 4-1-2014] [MiamiNewTimes.com, 4-1-2014]

• (1) Japan's largest, most influential organized-crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi, recently launched an extensive anti-drug, humanitarian campaign with a website and folk-song-like ballad extolling the group's civic-mindedness backing up photographs of earnest, joyful men at work in their communities. (2) Italy's former premier, Silvio Berlusconi, booted out by voters last year after he finally embarrassed them (and who is awaiting sentencing for tax evasion and trial for bribery), began a comeback in March -- by becoming the face of a dog-and-cat rescue program. "Dogs and cats," he assured supporters, "will help (the Forza Italia party) win the European elections." [The Guardian (London), 4-2-2014] [The Independent (London), 3-30-2014]